Machine for forming and sealing bliss style containers

ABSTRACT

A machine for forming and gluing a three-part container having two wall panels and a body panel forming the bottom and the other two walls of the container. The body panel is sealed to the wall panels by flanges which are attached to the bottom and walls of the body panel, and which bend over and are contiguous with the faces of the wall panels. The apparatus carries the body panel into position between a mandrel and a die, and positions the wall panels with respect to the body panel. The mandrel then carries the body panel and wall panels through the die cavity to blend the flanges toward the wall panel, and into a compression section. The compression unit has two active positions: the first holds the bent flanges at an included angle of less than 45* and the second compresses the flanges against the wall panels to bond the flanges to the wall panels. When the compression unit retracts, the container is removed from the machine.

1451 July 4,1972

United States Patent Striplin RLL PPW 6 T 99 35500 0 33 C M YE 20 477 999 .1 1 1 W06 1 7 2 5 3 9392 2 3 1 9 3 3 3 8389 2 5 5 5 2 3 3 3 [54] MACHINE FOR FORMING AND SEALING BLISS STYLE CONTAINERS [72] I lnventor: Charles D. Striplin, Concord, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Weyerhaeuser Company, Tacoma, Wash. 22 Filed:' Aug. 27, 1969 1/1940 Germany................................93/36.3

211 App]. No.2 853,249

Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. 93/363,93/39 R 93/391 P ttglztfigrPatrick D. Coogan, John M. Crawford and Leslie [52] U.S.Cl.

93/55, 93/59 PL .8311) l/46, B3 lb 1/64, B31b 17/02 Field of Search...............

[57] ABSTRACT A machine for forming and gluing a three-part container hav- 51 58 .93/36 MN, 36.3, 39 R, 39.1 P,

ing two wall panels and a body panel forming the bottom and the other two walls of the container. The body panel is sealed 1 panels by flanges which are attached to the bottom and walls of the body panel, and which bend over and are conto the wal tiguous with the faces of the wall panels. The apparatus carries the body panel into position between a mandrel and a die, and positions the wall panels with respect to the body panel. The mandrel then carries the body panel and wall panels through the die cavity to blend the flanges toward the wall panel, and into a compression section. The compression unit has two active positions: the first holds the bent flanges at an included angle of less than 45 and the second compresses the flanges against the wall panels to bond the flan s to the wall panels. When the compression unit retracts, the contamer 1s removed from the machine.

. 1,194,244 8/1916 Schwartz...... 1,724,529 8/1929 ,Stokes 1,859,640 5/1932 Walter 2,059,416 11/1936 Thom...... 2,645,984 7/1953 Linstedt....... 3,088,114 5/1963 Guenther 3,342,116 9/1967 Roesner... 3,456,563 7/1969 Roesner....... 3,459,105 8/1969 Waldbauer.. 3,465,652 9/1969 Bel1..............

3,416,412 12/1968 Wi1cox..... Byrne 2 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures 1 vvl PATENTEDJUL 4M2 3.673.928

sum nor 6 PATENT JUL 4122 ED SHEET 60E 6 3,673,928

.im -1 ml CHARLES .D. SVK/PZ l/V fM z ATTORNEYS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention A machine for placing together separate pieces to form a container.

2. Description of the Prior Art Roesner et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,116 also discloses a machine for manufacturing Bliss-style containers. In this machine the body blanks are carried into position between the mandrel and the die, and against a trip switch by driven rollers and held in position by the same driven rollers. These rollers wear quickly and it is necessary to replace them if the container is to be formed properly.

The mandrel pushes the wall panels outwardly against the flanges. The outer compression unit or die cavity is fixed. Thus, there is no clearance between the finished container and the die cavity after the container is formed, and the container may not drop from the cavity after it is formed. There is no separate removal unit or split flange-forming plows.

Each step in the operation of the machine is timed in relationship to the other steps. It is possible to increase the time of one step only by increasing the time of all steps in the cycle. Consequently, it is difficult to adjust the machine to obtain a bond between the flanges and the end panels when the humidity and temperature change.

There are other machines presently on the market in which the mandrel is fixed and the outer compression units move in to adhere the flanges to the wall panels. However, these use drive rolls to position the body panel between the mandrel and die, use a fixed time relationship sequence, and do not have separate removal units or split flange-forming plows.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present apparatus forms and glues a container having two wall panels and a body panel. The body panel is sealed to the wall panels by flanges on the body panel which are bent over and adhered to the faces of the wall panels. The apparatus moves the body panel into position between the die cavity and the mandrel, and positions the wall panels with respect to the body panel.

An inertia roll and positive stop hold the body panel in position between the mandrel and die, and against the switch operating the mandrel, and prevent the switch from bouncing the panel out of position with respect to the mandrel and die. The inertia roll is not driven, and does not wear as a driven roll would. The mandrel moves the body panel and wall panels into the die cavity to bend the flanges around and toward the wall panels. Split flange-forming plows in the cavity make it possible to bend only certain specified flanges on the container.

The mandrel places the container in a compression section and acts as a fixed backing plate during the compression cycle. The compression unit has two active positions: the first holds the bent flangesat an included angle of less than 45, and the second compresses the flanges against the wall panels to bond the flanges to the wall panels. The compression time length may be changed without changing the cycle time of the rest of the operation so that the machine may be varied for different temperature, glue and humidity conditions.

After retraction of the compression unit, the container is removed from the compression section. This may be by an ejector or a conveyor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side plan view of the machine. The arrows show the direction of travel through the machine. Portions are cut away to show details of construction.

FIG. 2 is an end plan view of the apparatus from the drive end.

FIGS. 3-5 and 7-10 are isometric views of the various steps in the machines operating cycle.

FIG. 6 is a side plan view showing the inertia roll.

FIG. 1 1 is an isometric view of the machine controls.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGS. 3-6 and 7-10 are shown the steps of forming a body panel 20 and wall panels 30 into a container 35. The body panel 20 has a bottom panel 21, wall panels 22, and top panels 23. Each of these panels has end flanges; the bottom panel 21 having flanges 24, the wall panels 22 having flanges 25, and the top panels 23 having flanges 26. The flanges 24 and 25 are bent around and bonded to the faces of the wall panels 30 by the machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, the body panel is moved into the forming station 60 by drive rolls 40 and 41 of the gluing station 50. These rolls are driven by motor 42 through drive chains 43 and 44. The drive rolls 40 and 4] push the body panel 20 through the gluing section in which the glue heads 51 place a bead of glue 52 on the flanges 24, 25, and 26. The glue is shown as being a hot-melt supplied to the glue heads 51 in the form of ropes 53 from reels 54. However, granules, chunks or liquid adhesive may also be used.

As the body panel 20 leaves the drive rolls 40 and 41, it is pushed forward by an inertia roller 55 until it contacts a switch 56. The body panel 20 is prevented from bouncing from the switch 56 by a downwardly biased detent 57 and the continued forward rotation of the inertia roll 55. This holds the panel 20 in position between the mandrel 61 and the die cavity 90 The mandrel 61 has a forming head 62 which has the outer shape of the interior of the container being formed. It has faces 63 which are connected by outer plates 64, a central plate 65 and side plates 66. The edges 67 of the faces 63 and the outer plates 64, and the edge 68 of the plates 66 define the inner dimensions of a wall of the container. The wall panels 30 are carried in against the edges 67 and the edge 68 by the wall panel carrier mechanism 70.

This mechanism is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The wall panels rest in an upright position on a track 71. A detent 72 rests against the outer face of the outermost wall panel 30. The detent 72 is pulled inwardly toward the mandrel by a weight 73 which is attached to the detent by a rope and pulley mechanism 74. This mechanism will insure that a wall panel 30 will always be against the mandrel in position to form a container.

The forming head 62 is moved into the die cavity 90 by the rod which is moved toward and away from the die cavity by some linear mechanism such as the piston in the cylinder 81. The rod 80 is attached to the center plate 65 of the forming head. An outer guiding cylinder 82 surrounds the cylinder 8]. The outer end of the cylinder 81 is attached by a cro$ brace 83 to the frame 45. Air hoses 84 and 85 cause air to enter and exit from the outer and inner ends of the cylinder 81, respectively.

The tripping of the switch 56 by the panel 20 adjusts the valve 86 so that air enters the outer end of the cylinder 81 through line 85 and exits from the inner end of the cylinder 81 through line 84. The forming head 62 moves toward the die cavity 90 carrying the body panel 20 and the two wall panels 30, held against the edges 68, into the die cavity 90. The die cavity 90 consists of inner end plows 91, outer end plows 92 aligned with plows 91, and side bars 93.

Movement of the forming head 62 into the die cavity 90 causes the wall panels 22 of the body panel to contact the side bars 93 and to fold upwardly around the faces 63 of the forming head; the flaps 24 to contact the inner plows 91 and to fold inwardly around the lower edges of wall panels 30; and the flaps 25 to contact the outer plows 92 and to fold inwardly also. There is a space between the plows 91 and the forming head so that the flaps are not folded into contact with the end panels. The continued movement of the forming head 62 causes the wall panels 22 to come in contact with the faces 63 of the forminghead so that the flaps 26 will be aligned with the spaces between the plows 91 and 92 as the flaps pass into the compression section 100. Consequently, the flaps 26 are not folded inwardly during the forming cycle.

When the forming head 62 has placed the container preform into position in the compression section 100, an arm (not shown) on the mandrel trips switch 101 (FIG. 11) causing air to enter the cylinders 102 of the compression units 103. The cylinders 102 are dual actuated and air enters the cylinders in two streams. The first stream moves the piston 102a within the cylinder at the same sequence as the mandrel is moving, causing the compression members 104 attached to the piston to move toward the forming head a distance great enough to hold the flanges 24 and 25 at an angle formed in the wall. In some modifications, the compression members would be in this position normally and need not be moved to this position. The second stream of air into the cylinders 102 places pressure on the piston 102a and the compression members 104 to compress and adhere the flanges 24 and 25 to the wall panels 30. The length of time of the compression is determined by the timer 105 (FIG. 11). The side flanges 106 hold the wall panels 22 in position against the forming head 62.

At the end of the compression cycle determined by the timer 105, air is bled from the cylinders 102 to retract the compression members 104, and is bled from the outer end of cylinder 81 and enters the inner end of the cylinder 81 to move the forming head 62 away from the compression section 100. Detent 107 holds the container in the compression section 100 and prevents it from moving with the forming head 62.

When the mandrel 60 reaches its outermost position it trips switch 108 actuating the ejector unit 110. The switch 108 causes air to be bled from the front and to enter the rear of cylinder 111 moving the piston within the cylinder and the ejector plate 112 attached to the piston forwardly, pushing the container 35 from the compression section. In its full forward position the ejector mechanism 110 trips valve 113 (FIG. 11) reversing the operation of the ejector unit by bleeding air from the rear of the cylinder 111 and placing air in the front of the cylinder 111.

When the ejector plate 112 is in the rearward position shown in FIG. 1 the apparatus is ready for another cycle. Ifthe apparatus is being operated manually the operator notes the position of the plate 112 and then feeds another body panel into the drive rolls 40 and 41. If the apparatus is automatic a suitable switch is tripped when the ejector plate 112 is in its rearmost position allowing the drive rolls 40 and 41 to carry another body panel into the cycle.

It is also possible to use a conveyor in place of the ejector mechanism shown.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for forming container blanks into containers in which a blank is conveyed to a work station along a path and is positioned at said work station, said apparatus in cluding first means for conveying said blank, a device adjacent to the exit end of said conveyor and aligned with the conveyor for maintaining the positional relationship of the blank to the apparatus at said work station comprising second means for positioning the leading edge of said blank positively at said work station,

an inertial roll mounted on said apparatus between said conveyor and said work station and tangential to the path of said blank, the point of tangency of said inertia roll being spaced from said second means a distance equal to the length of said blank,

detent means substantially aligned with the point of tangency of said inertia roll and on the side of said path opposite said inertia roll,

means for moving said detent means toward said inertia roll,

means for forming said blank at said work station, and

means for actuating said forming means, said actuating means being actuated by a leading edge of said blank.

2. In a container-fonning device in which a mandrel and die move relative to each other to fold a container around said mandrel, said mandrel having pairs of opposing sides and said die having pairs of opposing sides parallel to said mandrel sides, the improvement for folding certain of said container panels and not folding others com rising one set of opposing sides of sai dies [5 split into a mam section and an additional section and the additional section is spaced outwardly of the outer edge of said mandrel and the outer edge of the main section is spaced inwardly of the outer edge of said mandrel. 

1. In an apparatus for forming container blanks into containers in which a blank is conveyed to a work station along a path and is positioned at said work station, said apparatus including first means for conveying said blank, a device adjacent to the exit end of said conveyor and aligned with the conveyor for maintaining the positional relationship of the blank to the apparatus at said work station comprising second means for positioning the leading edge of said blank positively at said work station, an inertial roll mounted on said apparatus between said conveyor and said work station and tangential to the path of said blank, the point of tangency of said inertia roll being spaced from said second means a distance equal to the length of said blank, detent means substantially aligned with the point of tangency of said inertia roll and on the side of said path opposite said inertia roll, means for moving said detent means toward said inertia roll, means for forming said blank at said work station, and means for actuating said forming means, said actuating means being actuated by a leading edge of said blank.
 2. In a container-forming device in which a mandrel and die move relative to each other to fold a container around said mandrel, said mandrel having pairs of opposing sides and said die having pairs of opposing sides parallel to said mandrel sides, the improvement for folding certain of said container panels and not folding others comprising one set of opposing sides of said dies is split into a main section and an additional section and the additional section is spaced outwardly of the outer edge of said mandrel and the outer edge of the main section is spaced inwardly of the outer edge of said mandrel. 